Like so many of you, I watched in disbelief as the images of violence kept unfolding, live, on my TV screen last Wednesday. I had begun watching the counting of the electoral votes, a simple procedural ceremony. It was a seminal moment for me and I wanted to savor it.
I had worked hard on this election; it was personal for me. Joe Biden was not my first choice, he wasn't even my second choice, but once he was the candidate I worked as hard for him as I had for my favorite. I liked Biden but I didn't think he could win, and if the truth be told, if Trump was running against a can of soup, I would have voted for the soup.
I really wanted Elizabeth Warren to be the candidate, I want to see a woman president before I die. Not just any woman, but a strong and capable, and intelligent woman. Well I think we have that in Kamala Harris and if she has to sneak into the presidency through the back door, so be it.
And so it was Wednesday, that I turned the TV on and settled in to enjoy the fruit of my labors. As the counting began, the objections began with Arizona; recess almost immediately. It will be a long day I thought, I had no idea how long.
I was all of fourteen the first time I went to Washington DC, it was on vacation with my family. Back then all the buildings were open to the public. The Capitol, the White House (although that visit required standing in line to get the tour), the museums and the monuments. It took us four long days to see it all. But I remember being struck at the size of the Capitol building. We had been to the White House the day before and I was underwhelmed, it was not the mansion I had imagined it to be. But the Capitol was huge. We did all the tourist things; gazed up at the dome from the rotunda, sat in the gallery, visited statuary hall, rode the underground train that traversed the width from the Senate to the House, and ate in the dining room because we had to have the famous Navy bean soup (my mom's bean soup was much better and I wasn't the only one to say so).
I can't describe the feeling of awe my parents, siblings and I experienced in those four days. This is why my grandparents came to this country, why they left everything and started again with small children in a new land, a land where their children and their children's children could grow up to be whatever they wanted to be. I know my folks didn't have much money for vacations then, but they wanted to give us this, this citadel of democracy, this fortress of freedom.
I am glad I got to see Washington then, as so much has changed. Pennsylvania Ave. is closed off, tours of the White House are a perfunctory visit of the first floor and only a few rooms. You can no longer visit the gallery in the Capitol, or ride the train if it is even there. Many of the areas are roped off, but then we did this to ourselves, by actions unbecoming...
So when I witnessed that mob storming the Capitol building, I was physically ill, tears filled my eyes. The only thing that I can think of that affected me like that before was watching the Twin Towers fall on 9/11. Only the we were being attacked by an enemy, These were Americans who were destroying the greatest symbol of our democracy. And they were urged on by the President, a man who should hold this building with reverence.
I watched, feeling sicker by the minute as the hoodlums shattered windows, trashed furniture, threw papers about, taking 'souvenirs' from the offices, and took selfies while sitting at Speaker Pelosi's desk. They attempted to break onto the floor of the House of Representatives, and one insurrectionist was shot and killed. I was sad, and I was angry, very angry. And I am still having problems processing what happened.
There are those who say we should put this behind us for the sake of unity. I disagree and disagree vehemently. I will not forgive and forget. Appeasement doesn't work. Look at Great Britain and Chamberlain; they thought if they gave Germany a little, Hitler would be happy, so they gave him Czechoslovakia, and Hitler took all of Europe.
These insurrectionists must be hunted down and punished, and that starts at the very top, and then the Senate should refuse to seat Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz. Those instigators in the House of Representatives should be censured, all of them. As for Donald Trump, he should be impeached - again. The Senate will most probably abdicate its responsibilities again, and refuse to convict, but the list of Trumps crimes should go down in writing for all of history.
These are a gang of thugs who tried to take down out government, if we look the other way it will only give them permission to try again. These people are not reasonable, they do not respond to the truth. The latest YouGov poll found that 45% of Republicans support the assault on the Capitol and 35% of them blame Biden for it. Right now Trump's idolators are saying that it was leftist agitators who did the damage to the Capitol, nor Trump loyalists. When madness is your only logic, madness becomes your only argument.
Sixty years ago, I stood in the US Capitol and marveled at its beauty and majesty. I still brings a lump to my throat, this is my country and I love it. I will not let any band of redneck terrorists take it from me. Ariel Durant, the Russian born American writer said: "A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within." Stand up for our country.
I'm just sayin'
